“Didn’t I tell you this place would be hopping?” Kyle said as we walked through the door. The neon strobe lights illuminated a dance floor that was almost full despite the fact that it was barely 9 pm. There was a long bar set across one side of the room. The other side of the dance floor was elevated from the main floor, and tables and couches were scattered to allow breathing room if you didn’t want to dance. It was smaller than most clubs I was used to going to, but it would do. I only had one activity left to check off my list for today. That was getting laid. Lucy knew that, which was no doubt why she’d thrown several warnings my way before letting me off the hook for the night.
“As long as I find a piece of ass, it’s perfect,” I said. I noticed that as we made our way to the bar, the whispers had already started. Chicago was a major hub for the MMA, and so it didn’t surprise me to be recognized. That was all part of the show. The more fans you had, the more money the sponsors were willing to pay and the more endorsements you could secure. My star was rising, and it had helped me along the way that there seemed to be legions of women willing to throw their panties into the ring for me.
Kyle ordered beers for us as I started my calculated sweep of the room. There were women of every size and shape as far as the eye could see. That was good. As I scanned the tables on the other side of the room, my gaze stopped on one woman in particular. A blonde. I was so used to seeing adoring, sultry expressions when women looked at me that this one’s look took me by surprise. The woman’s lip was curled up in a frown that bordered on…disgust?
She wasn’t looking down at the dance floor. She wasn’t looking at some random place in the room. She was looking at me. What the hell was that about? I let my eyes troll down her body. Her bare legs seemed to go on for miles dressed in a pair of black heels. I was a legs man, for sure. My dick was immediately hard as I thought about having those legs wrapped around my waist. She wasn’t my usual type; I usually went for busty and petite, but this woman intrigued me.
Kyle handed me a beer bottle. I took a long sip. The blonde wasn’t looking at me anymore. She was staring at the DJ booth now. I felt as if I had been assessed and dismissed. That annoyed me more than anything. I wasn’t used to be dismissed by women; not even before I became a minor celebrity.
“See anything you like?” Kyle asked. He knew that his purpose in the evening’s mission was simply to ensure that I found a girl. Kyle was part of my crew. He procured whatever I needed to ensure I was in top form for my fights, and that included women and booze; my two main vices. I was wound up tight before every fight night and getting laid took the edge off. It was a routine that I repeated in city after city, and given my current winning record, it was a routine I wasn’t about to break. I was superstitious like that.
“Maybe,” I said. “Let’s see if we can find a table next to the dance floor.” The blond was my target. I was already starting to rehearse what I was going to say to her when I heard Kyle whistle low next to my ear.
“Incoming.”
It didn’t take a genius to see who he was talking about. A redhead in a shimmering bustier and barely there mini-skirt was headed in my direction. I paused just long enough to appreciate the ample cleavage being exposed. This was exactly the kind of girl that I normally took for a roll, and lucky for me, she was coming right to me.
“Hey there,” she said when she reached us. She tossed her hair over her shoulder. It fell in waves down her back. This girl oozed confidence. “I’m Stacey.”
“Shayne,” I said. “This is Kyle.”
Stacey barely gave Kyle a nod of acknowledgement before she locked her attention back on me. “I know who you are. Big day tomorrow, right?”
An MMA groupie. It was almost too easy. But I couldn’t help but cut my gaze back up to the blonde sitting at the table. She was looking down at me with that look on her face again. Her simple black tank and black short shorts weren’t nearly as showy as the woman in front of me, but there was something drawing me to her.
“Yeah, big day,” I agreed. “Excuse me. We’re on our way to find a table.” I needed to brush this girl off as quickly as possible.
“Oh, my friend and I have a table,” Stacey chirped. She turned to the side and pointed at the blonde, who seemed to sit up straighter in her chair when she saw the motion of the redhead’s finger in her direction. “We have plenty of room. Do you want to join us?”
My luck was getting even better. The redhead was there with the blonde. “That’d be great. Thanks.”
The redhead babbled the whole way back to the table, but I didn’t hear a word she said. I gave Kyle a slight jab in the ribs and cocked my head toward Stacey. I saw his questioning look. I gave another short nod toward the blonde as we approached the table. Hopefully, he caught my drift. It wasn’t Stacey that I wanted.
“Alexa, this is Shayne and um, what’s your name again?” I wasn’t surprised that Stacey hadn’t caught Kyle’s name. I felt bad when I hung out with my friends who weren’t in the MMA. They became second wheels at best. Luckily, Kyle was always pretty cool about it.
“Shayne and Kyle,” I said as I reached my hand across the table. “Nice to meet you, Alexa.”